[PRP]Under the moonlight shall you find love~ [Nia x Abrafo]

[Sabra Knight]

Moonlight was the only light that the black leopardess needed as she made her way towards the pride's border. The cubs were all asleep in the nursery and Nia was glad for the break. Hunting, Raising and Training the cubs, and just trying to keep things together was really stressing her out.

Right now she needed a break. A time to think of just herself - to not worry about others. Well, maybe there was something more that she wanted. But Nia was too proud, secretly more fearful, to ask for his company.

Maybe if that stubborn lion would notice...Nia sighed as she sat and looked up at the stars above. Being in love was a pain - especially after what she had done. Her gaze lowered, she loved her cubs and was proud of them. But why hadn't she been thinking straight? She had thought she was, but how was she to realize how Abra would take things?

Would he ever forgive her?
 

[Painted Moose]

Ever since those abominations were born Abrafo had been living a lie. He took care of them like his own, but at a distance with the coils of betrayal stinging his heart. At first he had even tried to share the same den as their mother, but he couldn't do it now.

He was ignorant to see why Thona would have pursued her, but to give in? That thought alone ate at him more than any other. Everything he had worked for til now to give her, to shower her with gifts had been for not. It just sank the nail down deeper in his mind that females were nothing, but tools. If you didn't use them properly, they ran wild.

Looking out over the horizin, he spotted a patch of black and waited with a sneer on his mug. So long as she didn't see him, he'd be fine.  

[Sabra Knight]

Nia's body felt heavy even as she rolled over to get a better look at the night sky. Once as a cub(what felt like forever ago) her mother had been there to tell amazing stories about the stars and the big cats that were up there. A pained smile. Her mother had also loved romance stories. How they went through hellish events at times, but those were just trials. Trials that lead to that happy ending - to eternal love.

Too bad her life was becoming the opposite.

Silent pain wracked her with sobs. Without another thought the leopardess pushed herself from the ground and started running randomly with great strides. Not knowing where she was going, from the pride at least, but also going to him without even realizing it.
 

[Painted Moose]

Abrafo panicked. For a moment or two all he could do was watch her as she wallowed in her pain before she came charging at him. Like hell he wanted to see her! She could go die for all he cared, but if she ran into him he might very well be dragged down with her.

Looking from side to side he realized that with all the open terrain he would be spotted just as easily if he made a break for it. Resolution put steel in his spine. Taking a deep breath, he called out to her, "You can't outrun your sins, Nia!"  

[Sabra Knight]

Shinning tears flowed behind Nia as she ran. Her speed nearly slowed, but something else made the leopardess's heart race. Oh! Nia's eyes widened as she scrambled to a defensive halt. That voice was his - but was that just her imagination?

Unfortunately that wasn't so.

"Abrafo." Nia swallowed before that normal anger that protected the shattering heart masked her face. "What sins?" She growled, glad that there was no one else out in the open terrain. But her eyes only held his for a second before she shook her head, "Never mind." It hurt too much to even look at him. The leopard turned and took a slow step away from the lion.
 

[Painted Moose]

His claws dug into the ground angrily before he side stepped to block her exit. "Can't you even look at me anymore?" He growled. Abrafo leaned in close so that she couldn't look anymore, but at him. "Are you that heartless that you resort to denial?"

The kind of ruthless insanity that tore his mother's mind to shreds threatened to rise. He easily invisioned himself snapping her neck in half, but at the same time tearing at himself. Abrafo had always been the one to wear his heart on his sleeve. Too bad it was so broken that pieces were chipping off. "Answer me." He hissed. "Give me a straight answer. You can at least do that, can't you?"  

[Sabra Knight]

Heartless? She was heartless? Nia's eyes stung just like her heart. But she didn't dare give Abrafo the pleasure of her pain. "Why should I look at you?" Despite her words, she was shaking. "Why should you even care if I look at you?"

Always she had looked before, but had he cared then?

No. That's the answer that always surfaced in her mind while she spent those lonely nights just knowing that he was blending another female's night scent with his own. "What answer would you want?" Nia snapped sharply, trying her best to hold onto that 'anger' that lead to this situation. "Yes, I had cubs with another male. Yes, I feel that you hate me for it. Yes, I went and spent one night- one night! With someone else because the place by my side was seemingly always empty here. I'm so sorry that I'm a female and may have cubs while a male can go and leave behind his flings!"

Not that she was accusing him of being a father. It was just so unfair that she was the one beaten by the fact that she had cubs out of a fling. Was it her fault for being lonely? Why should she have been faithful to someone who had never truly claimed her as his own? Was she to wait forever for a male that may never be her's? Nia's sight blurred. In her depressed mind, she was just some female leopard that would never match those lionesses that he knew.
 

[Painted Moose]

"What the hell is wrong with you?!" He snapped. Abrafo couldn't take another minute of the bullshit she was spewing and knew he had to come clean.

"My flings were born of the frustration you put me under. Ever since I was a cub you've had me under your paw, and I've had enough. " With a swipe of his paw he knocked her to the ground and straddled her. He snarled at her. Why couldn't she see? Why was she so blind?! "

Once upon a time he didn't give a damn what she said to him. Now her tears tore through his heart. Twice he leaned into her face, but this time he held nothing back in his gaze. "I don't hate you. I love you, Nia, which makes it so damnably hard to understand the things you do. I wished with all of my heart that you would open up to me; allow me to share your sorrow, your pain, your joy! But you didn't say anything." He was shaking with the force of his rage. "What do you want from me?!"
 

[Sabra Knight]

Under her paw? Since when? Nia's thoughts jarred into a mess that blanked as Abrafo straddled her. Her eyes shone like a startled prey's before closing in mute shock. Her heart was thudding wildly in her chest. This wasn't right. Abrafo shouldn't -

He said what?

Nia's eyes fluttered open as she gazed up at him. Even with tears blurring everything she could see the truth, the clarity of that gaze. "Abrafo." Her voice shook with emotions, "That 'fling' had no feelings." The truth rang out from her voice. The only things she loved from that night were her dear cubs. "I never imagined myself with another. You've always been in my heart."

"But-" She bit her lip, "I never thought that I should be falling for you - yet I did." Her golden eyes softened, "I was afraid of opening up. Terrified of being rejected so I let other pains flood me. Loneliness seemed better than your rejection." It was true - too bad she hadn't realized how painful loneliness really could be.

"I never realized that you would be hurt. Abrafo, I'm sorry!" She was crying freely now and her body shook with sobs, "Please, forgive me." That was all she truly wanted - his forgiveness and...... love, if it was still possible.
 

[Painted Moose]

He watched her reactions with some semblence of pride. Good, she should be scared. At least then she'd be forced to listen to him and to his surprise, she had just as much inside of her as he did. His bi-colored eyes widened. He opened his mouth, closed it and opened it again before sighing. "I would have never rejected you."

Abrafo shifted to the side before laying down next to her, his paw still slung over her. He hesitated only for a moment before drawing her close. "I'll forgive you if you do the same for me." His ears hung back in shame. How could he be the one to make her cry? The dark lion leaned forward to lick her cheeks. "I can't take back what I've done, or what you've done, but we can start new. Just the two of us."  

[Sabra Knight]

"You-" Nia blinked up at him, her eyes brimming full of tears. "Really?" Astonishment was written all over her face. This beautiful lion wouldn't have rejected her? Never? She could barely believe it, but his expression - his eyes told her the truth.

"I...I." Nia's words shook as she snuggled into Abrafo's warmth, "Of course I'll forgive you." She whispered before looking up and tenderly rubbing her nose against his. "I would love that, Abra." Of course, she would love that. Just the thought made the leopard purr in relief as she closed her eyes and leaned against the lion.
 

[Painted Moose]

Abrafo's soul opend up the valve to drain out his anger. How could he be mad at Nia when she looked like that? He leaned over to lick her cheek, comforting and slow like a real mate should. It took him so long to be able to show her, but in his mind couldn't have happened at a better time.

"You know, your the only who calls me that." He circled her smaller frame with his, cuddling her close. In the darkness they blended in so well that he didn't fear the eyes of others. For now he could show her how much he cared with only the moon to witness.

((I'm gonna say Fin))